The cold morning air was thick with tension. The sky was still dark, the first traces of dawn barely beginning to creep over the horizon. The house was silent, but Kol's instincts screamed that something was wrong.
Then he heard it.
A shift in the wind. A presence.
Many presences.
Kol's eyes snapped open. He was already moving before he even knew why, his feet carrying him to the window. His breath came slow and measured as he peered outside.
A sea of figures stretched before the house.
Hunters.
More than a hundred of them.
They stood in rows, their eyes fixed on the house like wolves circling their prey. Blades gleamed under the faint moonlight. Some carried firearms, others enchanted weapons crackling with energy. Their auras pulsed with killing intent.
Kol's hands clenched into fists.
The hunters had finally come.
The hunters surged forward.
Inside the house, Kol turned sharply. Jacob was awake, but barely. His injuries left him in no shape to fight. Lisa stirred, sensing the tension in the air. Before she could react, her father was already moving.
Brad, Lisa's father, pushed open the door and stepped outside.
A hush fell over the hunters as he approached.
"Stand down," Brad ordered, his voice steady despite the overwhelming odds before him. "This is not how we do things."
One of the hunters stepped forward, a broad-shouldered man with a jagged scar across his jaw. His eyes were cold, filled with barely restrained hatred.
"You've grown weak, Brad."
Brad's expression didn't change. "You think this is strength? Attacking a man in his sleep?"
The hunter sneered. "You call that thing a man? He's a demon. And he should've died long ago."
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. The numbers behind them swelled—more hunters arriving by the second.
Brad remained unmoved. "Leave now. This isn't your fight."
The scarred hunter let out a cruel laugh. "Not my fight? You're unfit to lead. That's why we don't answer to you anymore."
The air grew heavier.
Kol sensed it before it even happened.
The moment the scarred hunter's muscles tensed, he knew what was coming.
A blade flashed—aimed directly at Brad's throat.
Kol moved.
A blur of black lightning and raw force slammed into the battlefield. Kol's fist met steel mid-strike, shattering the blade upon impact. The hunter staggered back, his arm snapping with a sickening crack.
Silence.
Then—chaos.
A hundred hunters surged at once.
Kol's world narrowed. The fight had begun.
The first wave came fast. Too fast for a human. But not for him.
Kol met them head-on, his body twisting in a deadly blur. His fist connected with the first hunter's chest, sending him flying back into three others. A second hunter lunged from behind, twin daggers aimed at Kol's ribs.
He caught the man's wrists mid-strike.
Snap.
The hunter howled as his bones shattered.
Kol spun, bringing his heel down onto another attacker's skull, caving it in with a single strike. More came. Five, ten, fifteen. They swarmed him from every direction, their movements coordinated, precise.
They were skilled. Experienced. But it didn't matter.
Kol was no longer just a demon.
He was the Demon King.
A spear thrust toward his chest. Kol twisted, grabbing the shaft mid-air. He yanked the hunter forward, slamming a knee into his gut with bone-crushing force. Without missing a beat, he turned the spear in his hands and drove it through another hunter's shoulder.
Black lightning crackled around him, his power rising.
A dozen more hunters rushed him. Some fired enchanted bullets, others unleashed spells designed to restrain demons.
Kol raised his hand.
The bullets never reached him.
The air exploded with black energy, an invisible force tearing through the battlefield. The hunters were thrown back like rag dolls, their bodies crashing into trees, into stone, into each other.
Some didn't get up.
More came.
Kol welcomed them.
He wove through the storm of blades and spells with terrifying ease. A hunter leaped at him from above—Kol caught him by the throat and crushed it in his grip. Another tried to stab him in the back—Kol dodged effortlessly, seizing the man's arm and twisting it until it snapped.
They kept coming. He kept killing.
Bodies littered the ground. The battlefield reeked of blood and burnt flesh.
Kol stood in the center of it all, barely winded, his eyes burning with cold fury.
Then—
"STOP!"
Lisa's voice cut through the chaos.
Kol turned, his breath still heavy from the fight.
Lisa stood on the steps of the house, her face pale, her hands trembling. "Stop. Just stop."
Kol hesitated. His blood still burned for battle, but her voice reached him.
The remaining hunters—those still able to stand—pulled back. But there was something wrong.
Kol could feel it.
And then—
A sudden shift in the air.
Dark magic.
It happened in an instant.
Lisa's body tensed, her eyes going wide as black chains wrapped around her out of nowhere. Before Kol could react, a pulse of energy erupted from the sky. A portal—dark and swirling—tore open behind her.
A trap.
Lisa was yanked backward.
Kol lunged, his hand reaching for her—
But it was too late.
The portal swallowed her whole.
She was gone.
The battlefield fell into stunned silence.
Kol's entire body trembled. His breath came in ragged gasps.
The hunters who had fought him seemed just as confused as he was. Some stared in horror. Others exchanged uncertain glances.
Because they hadn't known.
Some had followed orders. Some had believed they were here to kill Kol.
But they hadn't all known the truth.
Some had been following orders from someone else.
The witches.
They had taken Lisa.
Kol's fury burned hotter than ever before.
And this time—he would burn the world to get her back.